


Fiddle Me This

by JetGirl1832, tomatopudding



Series: Friends Make Life A Lot More Fun [17]
Category: Rent - Larson
Genre: Duets, Friendship, Gen, Music, fiddle - Freeform, violin
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-29
Updated: 2017-03-29
Packaged: 2018-10-12 16:19:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,249
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10494738
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JetGirl1832/pseuds/JetGirl1832, https://archiveofourown.org/users/tomatopudding/pseuds/tomatopudding
Summary: After much needling Roger finally convinces Riley to go along with his plan.November 1991





	

"Remind me why we are doing this again?" Riley sighed as she leaned against the push broom, "you should at least pay us."

Roger barked out a laugh, "Are you kidding me? I barely get paid for this."

He scrubbed at a particularly stubborn sticky area of the bar top, spraying some more cleaning fluid.

Riley rolled her eyes.

"You gonna help or what?" Roger asked.

Riley continued to sweep up around the bar.

"Does it bother you that you don't get to perform every night?" questioned Maureen. She and Joanne were wiping down the tables, but in true MoMo fashion she was doing less cleaning and more watching Joanne bending over the tables.

"I don't really mind," answered Roger with a shrug, "It gives me more time to spend with my girl."

Mimi put down the mic stand she was setting up and blew him a kiss.

"Until you have to come here anyway and stand behind the bar all night," Maureen pointed out.

Roger shot a glance to Maureen, "Shut up MoMo."

Maureen shrugged, "Just pointing out the obvious."

"Tact, sweetie," Joanne said, "You don't have any."

"I have plenty of tact!" protested Maureen.

"Bitch please," laughed Collins, his voice emerging from the storeroom.

Maureen pouted, "You are all so mean to me."

"So, who performs on your off nights?" asked Riley as she began pushing dust and crumbs into the large dustpan that Mark was holding steady.

"It changes," replied Roger, "Tonight it's some bluegrass band I think?" He nodded towards the stage where a violin, guitar, and banjo all sat in their stands.

"You play violin, Ri," Mark piped up.

"I played violin," said Riley, putting emphasis on the past tense, "I haven't in awhile."

"You haven't?" This peaked Roger's interest, "and why is that?"

"Sold it," Riley replied sharply, "but that was awhile ago."

"Playing an instrument is not a skill you quickly forget," said Maureen.

"Says the girl who couldn't concentrate enough to even complete a year of piano lessons," Mark added with a grin.

"But what I learned in those four months I will remember forever," replied Maureen solemnly.

"I go by music shops sometimes and ask to try their violins," Riley admitted.

They took a break, the seven of them crowding around one of the newly cleaned tables with glasses of water all around.

"Well, come on then show me what you've got." Roger nodded towards the violin on the stage.

"Nah..." Riley replied as she leaned back in her chair, "wouldn't want to embarrass you."

"Embarrass me?" Roger snorted, "as if.”

“Hey don’t be too quick to judge the violin,” Riley sent a glare in Roger’s direction, “it is a beautiful instrument-”

“Then show me,” Roger replied, “go on, play.”

“I already told you no,” Riley folded her arms across her chest.

“You’re chicken,” Roger scoffed.

“Am not,” Riley frowned.

“Then go on up there and play some tunes,” Roger kept trying to goad her.

“Rog, if she doesn’t want to then knock it off,” Mark sighed.

“Come on Ri, if you’re gonna talk the talk, walk the walk,” Roger looked directly into her eyes.

Slowly Riley began to falter, “Fine.”

She then got up from her seat and walked over to the violin and started checking the tuning.

Roger gave a self satisfied smirk as he watched her, “This should be good.”

“Now you sound like you want her to fail,” Mark glared at Roger.

“Well it is violin, what can you really do with that?” Maureen asked.

Collins laughed, “Mo haven’t you ever heard anyone fiddle?”

“Yeah, but a fiddle isn’t a violin, is it?” Maureen asked.

They grew quiet as they watched Riley placed the violin gracefully placed the violin under her chin and raised the bow, as she drew it across it let out a loud, blood chilling screech as she began to play something that vaguely sounded like “Twinkle, Twinkle."

"Girl, please," Collins said over the commotion, causing a burst of laughter from Riley.

“Woah! Stop!” Roger shouted, “Come on, you can do better than that!”

“Are you sure that I can?” Riley asked innocently.

“Please…” Roger begged, “please play something else.”

"Fine," Riley let out a groan, "you want me to be all serious and play something like Mozart don't you?" She pulled herself together and started playing once again and it certainly wasn’t Mozart.

 

Mark's face soon lit up as he recognized the tune, "Hey, that's the theme from Fiddler on the Roof!"

 

Riley grinned at him, "Any self-respecting Jew who plays the violin knows Fiddler on the Roof, it’s tradition" she said with a wink, still playing.

 

"Play something for the Gentiles," Roger heckled.

 

"Nothing to please you lot," Riley shook her head, she inhaled before starting up once again. It took a bit before she started to get really into and she sped up so much it was a wonder she didn't burn through her bow.

“Holy shit,” Roger muttered as he watched in shock.

Mark couldn’t help but laugh, the tune was catchy that’s for sure and he was sure Maureen was tapping her foot rhythmically against the ground as they were all engrossed in Riley’s playing.

When she was done she lowered the violin and took a bow, her dark hair falling in her face, everyone in the bar cheered loudly for her. When she stood up she grinned and sat back down, “Well, what do you think?” She turned to Roger.

"Cooler than I thought," Roger smiled.

Riley scoffed, "Understatement."

Roger laughed, "Alright, yeah that was awesome."

Riley smiled.

"You ever think about taking it up again?"

"Excuse me?" Riley raised her brow.

"You heard me," Roger replied, "would you ever take it up again?"

"I don't know," Riley bit at her lower lip.

"Come on," Roger wheedled, "You could join me for a show maybe? We could make it work."

"I don't really have the funds to get a new fiddle," said Riley softly.

Roger sighed, there was the heart of the problem, "Right."

\----------

Riley had all but forgotten about the whole duet idea when the whole group approached her one day with a rectangular carrying case.

"Uhh guys," Riley laughed, "it's not Chanukah or my birthday, what's going on here?"

"Just open it," Roger said, rolling his eyes, "Can't friends get a friend a gift without reason?"

"Not when they're broke," quipped Riley, but she flipped the latches on the case and opened it.

Riley wasn't sure what she'd been expecting, but it definitely wasn't to see a violin nestled in the velvet-lined box. It was an older fiddle and obviously second hand. The wood was worn of varnish in some places and tape marks on the fingerboard showed that a student had used it at some point and given themselves guidelines for finding the correct notes. The bow was in slightly better condition, although it would need to be re-haired at some point in the near future.

"I..." Riley gasped as she gently picked up the violin and examined it, "I don't know what to say-" her voice cracked slightly.

"Just a little something from us to you," Mimi said with a smile.

"I'll admit that it's a bit self-serving," Roger added, "I'd really like to do that duet."

Riley let out a watery laugh and swiped at her eyes to clear away the tears that had formed.

"I'm going to hug you now," she informed them, "Each and every one of you. No complaints."


End file.
